ABSTRACT This article explores growing support for mano dura (iron-fist) policies in four historically safe Latin American democracies: Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Uruguay. Through 32 focus groups with 259 participants, we find that mano dura narratives are popular, but cross-national variations are sharp. Ecuador shows the strongest support for extreme, often extralegal measures, whereas participants in Uruguay favour an institutional ‘law and order’ approach. Chile and Costa Rica occupy a middle ground, with contested trust in mano dura. We argue that two factors condition the intensity and form of support: (1) perceptions of institutional fragility and (2) the availability of social scapegoats – dynamics embedded within deeper historical legacies. These comparative findings reveal a reality with implications beyond Latin America: insecurity can fuel mano dura’s appeal even in stable democracies, but robust institutions can curb its most extreme manifestations.

ABSTRACT The current study maps the social networks of the Hells Angels in British Columbia, Canada (BC HA). The BC HA has recently seen an increase in recruitment and has become a top priority for law enforcement, yet remains relatively insulated from police investigations, unlike other OMGs in Canada. Using police interactions from 158 members over 12 years (2007–2018), we analyse how the addition of two chapters – West Point (2012) and Hardside (2017) – affected the overall structure of the BC HA as well as the network trajectories of members. Findings revealed that the HA network did not expand after the opening of West Point and that members affiliated with this chapter were promoted from within the organisation. Members selected for transfer did not necessarily have better network positions in the organisation, but they gained prominence afterwards. Hardside recruits, for their part, were already at the top of the organisation.

ABSTRACT This article takes stock of Peter Reuter’s contribution to money laundering research, starting with Reuter and Truman’s seminal book Chasing dirty money: The fight against money laundering (Reuter & Truman, 2004). Next, the three main themes in this book are discussed, including later empirical work by Peter Reuter and co-authors addressing these themes and moving the field forward. First, we describe the development from measuring the volume of money laundering to risk assessments. Second, we discuss money laundering methods and markets. The final theme is the public policy theme that Peter Reuter has worked on consistently, with colleagues, throughout his career: how well does the anti-money laundering regime work?

ABSTRACT This paper assesses the usability of open-source intelligence (OSINT) – in particular, public business registers – for investigating organised crime group infiltration of legal markets. While OSINT can be easier to access than data from traditional closed sources, there are doubts about its reliability. To investigate the utility of this new data source, data was collected from an Italian pre-trial detention order and the Italian business register to construct networks representing an `Ndrangheta group involved in penetrating legal-market businesses. Results suggest that OSINT offers several advantages over traditional closed sources and works as a proxy when considering local network structures. However, OSINT network data face challenges when operating as a proxy for closed-source police data networks to identify key actors and reproduce global metrics. OSINT network data from business registers are valuable for investigating infiltration of legal-market businesses, although researchers must use them to answer questions to which they are well suited.

ABSTRACT Mapping transnational cocaine flows remains challenging due to fragmented and unreliable datasets, limiting understanding of trafficking structures. To address this, we integrate two distinct sources – the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Individual Drug Seizures and the United States’ International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports – to construct and compare 9 years of global cocaine trafficking networks. Using social network analysis, we replicate and extend previous appraoches to assess how data integration mitigates or amplifies reportng biases. Our findings show that merging these datasets enhances network cohesion, identifies overlooked transit hubs, and clarifies countries’ roles in trafficking. However, dataset limitations and geopolitical biases distort observed flows, necessitating careful interpretation. We advocate for broader data supplementation, including regional intelligence briefs and local field reports, and recommend weighted and multiplex network approaches to better capture trafficking complexities and improve the empirical foundations of illicit drug flow research.

ABSTRACT Violence is an essential tool for organised crime groups and is intertwined with personal reputations for governing and regulating markets and territories. It is therefore a puzzle why, when groups have an existing capacity for violence, they choose to contract it out. Further, when they do, little is known about this process. This paper, through an in-depth analysis of police case files concerning a drugs gang in London who planned a series of ultimately unsuccessful contract killings, addresses these conundrums. In doing so, it addresses key questions in relation to the study of violence.

ABSTRACT In most models on terrorism, interaction with other radicals is a key factor. However, systematic empirical evidence that radical ties affect behaviour is scarce. Our access to detailed police information allows us to apply Social Network Analysis (SNA) on a Dutch Salafi-Jihadi network and analyse the social relationships and network positions of 80 actors, out of whom 20 turned to terrorist acts. The results suggest that ties to leaders and terrorist offenders, co-attendance of radicalising settings and greater structural embeddedness relate to the likelihood of individual actors to turn to acts of terrorism. However, we also find some individual attributes that may offer competing explanations. In this paper we discuss our findings and address how future research may provide further insights into an important issue for agencies involved in countering terrorism: which radical actors, if any, are more likely to turn to acts of terrorism?

ABSTRACT The drug trade has garnered significant attention as a critical funding source for various terrorist organisations. This systematic review summarises the existing empirical knowledge about the Taliban and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s (FARC) involvement, and profit from the drug trade, and methods of estimating drug trade revenue. Thirty-one studies were identified. Twenty-three about the Taliban, seven about the FARC, and one about both groups. Estimates of annual profit varied from US$19 to US$500 million for the Taliban and US$140 to US$3.5 billion for the FARC. Fourteen of the twenty-four studies about the Taliban provided an estimate and merely six studies discussed the methods used to generate those estimates. Among the eight studies about the FARC, four provided an estimate but one described the method employed. Studies used a variety of information sources. The review shows the need for caution regarding existing estimates and a more methodologically rigorous analysis of linkages.

ABSTRACT An exploratory survey of 1,276 legitimate second-hand online market users from the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia was conducted to gauge the extent of stolen goods disposal in these markets; the willingness among users to receive suspected stolen goods; and the likely utility of hypothetical market reduction measures to disrupt disposal of stolen goods online. Chi-square analyses and binomial logistic regressions were conducted on responses to test whether perceptions and experiences of stolen goods disposal varied by demographic variables or browsing activity. Findings suggest that a high volume of stolen goods are perceived to be advertised in second-hand online markets; there is a willingness among a substantial minority of users to receive stolen goods online; and there is an appetite among the majority of users to disrupt the sale of stolen goods online. Theoretical and applied prevention and disruption implications of these findings are explored.

ABSTRACT Using a crime script analysis, this research aims to document how smugglers operate when they traffic arms from the US to foreign countries. Our study is based on an analysis of 66 cases that have been judged by US courts (2008–2017). The criminal activities involved are detailed in a series of distinct scenes, according to Cornish’s theory. Five scripts have been developed, based on the means of transport used by the traffickers: road transport, commercial airlines, postal services, freight transport and crossing the border on foot. Results suggest that most criminals prefer to operate according to an established modus operandi. This commonality suggests that the potential exists for the professionalisation of this criminal activity. Indeed, offenders are likely to maintain it to reduce effort and risk. Complementary sources of information would help to enrich the approach proposed in this study and to address the challenges posed by complex cases.